New to Netflix today is the Danish romantic period drama, Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction (aka Ehrengard: Forførelsens Kunst). The movie – directed by Bille August and based on a novel by Karen Blixen – stars Sidse Babett Knudsen, Alice Bier Zanden and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard and follows the story of an artist who desperately wants to woo a young woman.
In the movie, Cazotte is a painter, who most recently completed a portrait of the Grand Duchess. On the night of the painting’s unveiling, Cazotte is invited to attend a gathering, during which he engages in conversation with the Duchess about a particular problem she has.
The Grand Duchess believes her son, Prince Lothar, is of an age where he should be settling down with a wife. He’s a handsome man, who gets a great deal of female attention, yet he doesn’t seem interested.
Keen to see him wed, the Grand Duchess enlists the assistance of Cazotte to help Lothar find a bride. In return, the Duchess agrees she will help Cazotte to woo a beautiful young woman called Ehrengard.
Cazotte agrees and soon works his magic on the Prince. But when a particular problem arises, which could cause a scandal, Cazotte has to work around it as best as he can.
However, this problem does at least provide him with the opportunity to get closer to Ehrengard. It’s just a shame Ehrengard doesn’t seem all that interested in him.
Filled with a number of plot twists and turns, which help keep things ticking along, Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction is a decent if not particularly thrilling drama. Decent because the writing isn’t bad; but not particularly thrilling because the direction is a bit lacklustre.
On paper, the movie has all the right ideas in place, and I really wanted to become invested in the story. The script kept on serving up plot developments, and this initially piqued my interest.
But unfortunately the direction failed to capitalise on the story beats. Far too many scenes involved characters sat around chatting, and there was no dynamism, energy, or innovation at all.
As a by-the-numbers period drama, it’s more-or-less fine. However, I believe there is the potential for more here, and because it doesn’t seize any of the opportunities it has, it all feels a little flat.
With regards the cast, everyone does their job perfectly well, and when it comes to the costumes and settings, everything is present and correct. The film certainly looks good, and for some it may prove engaging.
Personally, my interest began to wane before the midpoint and never really recovered. So while I don’t think Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction is bad, I can’t say at any point was I ever truly mesmerised by what was on screen.
If you’re interested in period dramas, you may wish to try it out. If this isn’t your sort of thing, it’s probably best skipping this one.
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